The Pattern: Jolene Shirt by Ready to Sew
When I was looking for shirts to make before my trip to Europe, I wanted something that would go with pants or skirts. I wanted something that would be versatile and would fit in at a casual restaurant or a fancy dinner spot. I was happy to find this shirt!
Why I decided to make this pattern:
The peplum waist and the ruched sides looked so pretty. I figured they would look very flattering on me. I usually do not go for a peplum because I feel it makes my hips look bigger. This is the second peplum shirt that I have made. Honestly, it doesn’t stick out like I thought it would initially. I feel it is slimming and I loved wearing this galavanting around Europe. The ruching I think also is very flattering. So I decided to buy it and take my chances!
The Construction Instruction:
What is great about this pattern is that it comes in 3 different languages: English, French, and Spanish. Obviously, as my Spanish is muy mal and my French is non-existent, I used the English instructions. Since this is from a European company, all measurements are in metric and not imperial. So, I definitely had my metric conversion calculator I found on Google always up on my phone. Not a huge deal. I have been using so many different patterns from European companies that I am familiar with converting pattern sizes.
The buttons are also something that are really cute, but a challenge to execute. So you can see that the button placket has what I would call a double button. Cute right?! But as a person who hates to make a button hole, I was getting nervous as the time to make the button holes came closer. One shirt I did opt for snap and the other I made button holes. Both turned out so nice!
This is a version of sleeve that I ended up changing to the tulip sleeve seen at the top of the review. I decided that it needed something with a little more flair than a regular sleeve.
I also want to make sure that you get the right fabric for this shirt. I have been sewing for so many years and I still make bad choices with fabric. Both the fabrics I used for this shirt were perfectly fine, but one was better than the other for travel. The coral fabric wrinkled badly in my suitcase. The white eyelet was perfect and barely wrinkled along my travels. The hotel we stayed in during our Paris leg, did not have an iron and ironing board. So I did not wear this around the city of Paris. The white eyelet was also lighter which was so nice walking around in the late August heat of the city.
My Overall Thoughts:
This shirt is fantastic. I wear both all the time. The ruching and peplum waist is so flattering on a semi curvy frame. It is an elevated classic staple that I added to my wardrobe. Since I was obsessed before I left for Europe about having the right clothes (I did not want to look like an American tourist), I am happy I made this. I did not feel like I stuck out or people pinned me down as a tourist or an American. Well until they heard me speak. The few times I tried to speak French, I slipped into Spanish. How embarrassing is it to say Bon jour como èstas? But this shirt definitely made up for my lack of speaking in the French language. I will definitely make this again!